Cross Examination

With all the misinformation out there, it’s hard to separate history’s villains from the scapegoats. Nero took the heat for the fire in Rome, even though he was out of town. Lee Harvey Oswald went down solo. And the Bible reads like Judas was destined to be a fall guy.

The most famous biblical betrayer faces Judgment Day in Stray Cat Theatre’s production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, on stage through March 3 at Tempe Performing Arts Center. Set in a purgatory courtroom, the show includes sometimes damning, and damned funny, testimony by the likes of Mother Teresa, Pilate, and Sigmund Freud (for the insanity defense, natch).

“Most of what you find out about Judas you find out from testimonies of other people,” director Ron May says. “I think people would be hard-pressed to dislike him, though.” The same can be said for actor Damon Dering’s sassy Satan, who quips that when he first met Judas, the apostle was “taking advantage of the local happy hour.”